On picture mission with UN Volunteers

ElMouddaa's fields: notice the difference of the irrigated hills and the ones surrounding.

Through the Volunteer agency of the United Nations, I went with Thomas and another France Volontaires to take pictures and document the work done by a Peace Corps and local and volunteers, supported by UNV in deep rural Morocco. After 4h of train and 4h in 4x4, in the snowy mountains close to the highest mountain of Morocco, the Toubkal, we visited ElMoudaa. This tiny village of 300 people has organized itself in a CBO, AMSING, supported by a Peace Corps Volunteer and UNV. They have greatly improved the infractruture of the village, building a water tower, two reservoirs and several kilometers of irrigation canals, many underground. Previously, they had to mobilize everybody, women and children included, for two weeks every year to dig out the canal.

Proudly opening the valve to the water reservoir.

  This was a meeting they 'staged' for us, so we could get a group picture.

They hardly get any visitors, being so remote, let alone foreigners, so we were treated as royalty. The local Sheikh, or Amgar in the local berber language, welcomed us into his house and offered us tea. While Thomas did interviews with Claire, three guys took me around, and with lots of sign language and broken French and darija, would explain the projects to me. They were so proud, it was heartwarming.

I wanted to get the guy to wash his own UNV T-shirt, since it is usually only done by women. In the end, he just posed with the wet T-shirt...

They managed to build 11 gabions, or dams, to protect them from spring floods, which previously had destroyed several houses and crops.

They of course offered us a tajine, and killed a goat especially for us. Honestly, after Aïd, I felt I had seen (and eaten) enough goat, but hey, how can you refuse greasy skewed goat liver when it's been killed especially in your honour?